Sunday Seminar 1: Evolutionary Psychology, Behavioral Genetics, and Leadership Development
Richard Arvey
University of Minnesota
Stephen M. Colarelli
Central Michigan University
The role of biological forces that impact individual behavior in organizations has now been recognized and debated. Two major streams of writing and research have appeared that buttress this proposition: evolutionary psychology and behavioral genetics. Evolutionary psychology examines how the adaptive problems that people faced over millennia shaped the neurobiological mechanisms that characterize human nature. This “between species” approach can help explain why and how certain kinds of human behavior are common in most organizations. Behavioral genetics estimates the proportion of variance in human behavior explained by genetic factors. As such, this literature shows that there are genetic differences among humans that impact behavior at work and reflect a “within species” approach. This workshop will introduce I-O psychologists to major theoretical and empirical foundations of evolutionary psychology and behavioral genetics, examine how these two disciplines contribute to our understanding of leadership in organizations, explore practical implications of these approaches, and discuss future avenues of research and practice.
Learning objectives:
• Understand the definitions of both evolutionary psychology and behavior genetics and the differences and similarities between the two approaches
• Identify the major theories and research in behavioral genetics and evolutionary psychology that are related to leadership
• Examine practical implications of behavioral genetics and evolutionary psychology for the selection, development, and management of leaders
• Understand the statistical methodologies used to model genetic influences
Richard D. Arvey is currently a visiting professor at the National University of Singapore. He received his PhD at the University of Minnesota and taught previously at the Universities of Tennessee, Houston, and Minnesota. He has published over 100 articles and chapters over his career. He has held visiting positions at the University of California at Berkeley and Irvine. He has conducted research in the area of staffing and selection and wrote a well-received book on fairness in selecting employees. He started conducting research first on the heritability of job satisfaction using behavioral genetics methods over 15 years ago and has followed up on this kind of research by investigating the role of genetics on workplace values, and more recently leadership emergence.
Stephen M. Colarelli (PhD, New York University) is a professor of psychology at Central Michigan University. He is best known for applying evolutionary theory to the world of work. For over a decade he has argued that an evolutionary perspective can improve our understanding of behavior in organizations. He is the author of No Best Way: An Evolutionary Perspective on Human Resource Management, a seminal look at the intersection of evolutionary psychology and HRM. His research has examined personnel selection, training, affirmative action, women and power, sexual harassment, and organizational interventions—all from an evolutionary perspective. He was a Fulbright scholar at the University of Zambia and a Social Science Research Council fellow.
Coordinator: John Kello, Davidson College
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